How to Treat a Lady
by The Third Biker Scholar
Summary: Master Herb is getting a very special type of new training-How to treat a lady. and who better to teach it than a lady herself! but no woman's been in the Training grounds for centuries. how will they handle it!
1. Default Chapter

While I'm called inuficcrzy for reason, I love the vast majority of Takahashi's works, and Ranma is defiantly one of them. This is part of the Herb series in the comic, something you don't see a lot in fanfiction, and I hope I can keep them all in character. (Personally, I think Sesshomaru was born from this guy, I mean, they act so much alike!)  
  
On with the show, and please let me know what you think of it! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Chap 1: the first lady  
  
A cold wind blew through the lonely mountain range. It was a barren road, no trees, no plants, just rocks and rubble thrown about. A cloaked figure made its way slowly down the path. The hooded cape was deep burgundy red, and the traveler was thankful for it. Even for early spring, it sure was cold. Red boots tapped on the earth in a constant rhythm as it just kept on walking. Light chest and shoulder armor jingled, making a melody that helped ease the walker's nerves.  
  
'This won't be so bad. Maybe I can be done soon, and go home in a few weeks.' The traveler sighed. 'Who am I kidding? It never works that way. The best assignment I ever had was three whole months long! What is it with nobles and royals being so stubborn?'  
  
The silence was broken completely as the loner softly began to whistle a child's lullaby. It brought a smile to the face's lips, and lighter step to its stride. 'But I like a challenge. This won't be so bad.'  
  
A sound began to grow in intensity around the area it was approaching. It sounded like 'hyai's', punching, kicking, wood breaking, instructors shouting.  
  
At last!  
  
Cinnamon smiled as she started walking toward the sound. She had finally reached the Musk Dynasty training grounds, the home of the current heir to the throne, Prince Herb. Her steps hesitated as she remembered the only real law of the grounds.  
  
Women were forbidden to enter.  
  
And here she was, about to waltz right into 'No-Woman's-Land' extraordinaire.  
  
Oh boy. Let the fun begin.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~* Two guards had spotted the red cloaked figure walking down the pathway and immediately hailed it. "Stop you! Who are you, and what are you doing in Musk territory?!"  
  
"My name is Cinnamon, and I've come to see His Highness, Prince Herb."  
  
"What business do you have with the Master?"  
  
"I've come to help prepare him for his courtship, and I bear messages to Lord Sage from His Majesty, Emperor Thyme." The figure smiled from under its hood. "May I please do my job?" The tone was touched with humor, and the guards smiled wryly.  
  
"Yeah, we understand, we'll take ya to 'im." They both smiled back at the messenger and flanked him as they proceeded to escort him through the valley to the palace.  
  
As they entered the throne room, Cinnamon took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. Damn, but this place was Spartan. Very much a man's place: every inch a prince's home. The furniture was simple, no cushions or wall hangings, no tapestries. No vases, no other forms of artwork at all. The walls did have murals of battles, bloody and violent, but meticulously done. They were real works of art and craftsmanship, each one over a hundred feet long and fifty feet high, made in a mosaic style, just very, very gory.  
  
She shuddered at the sight of one image of a man having something indescribable done to his spine by someone trained in the form art of the dragon. 'Probably an ancestor of Prince Herb. I hope he doesn't that move.'  
  
She looked back down to eye-level as she was escorted to the base of the throne platform. Going on one knee, she kept her head down until she heard a deep voice say, "Rise."  
  
She stood slowly up and faced the prince of the Musk kingdom. Master Herb. He was just as he'd been described to her, tall, with red glowing eyes, pointed ears, and hair of three different amazing colors. His bangs were white, the top of his head and forelocks were a black so deep it was blue, and the rest of his long pink hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Gold scaled armor with white trim graced his forearms, shoulders and knees, his tunic and pants white. The collar was red and the sash at his waist matched perfectly.  
  
"Are you quite finished inspecting me?" The prince's voice was cool, and the tone was amused, but slightly annoyed. Uh-oh. This guy didn't like being stared at. But with such unusual and spectacular looks, (gods, he was handsome), women were bound to want to. She averted her gaze, happy now that her cape had such a deep hood to hide her face, which was blushing. Where the hell had her manners gone? "Forgive me my rudeness, Your Highness, but I've never seen such unusual hair before. Not many could wear such bold colors as well as you." She raised her eyes back to his and smiled. "It looks quite attractive." ~*~*~*~*~* please review! 


	2. memories of a mother

Here more for those who reviewed! hope you like it, I still don't own them!  
  
Chap 2: Memories of a mother  
  
Herb's POV Master Herb's eyebrow went up slightly in surprise, and his voice grew slightly warmer. Just slightly. He couldn't help but notice that this person had not taken off his cloak, and that was beginning to bother the prince. Why was he not showing his face? "What business do you have here, in my domain?"  
  
"I am a messenger, sent from His Majesty, Emperor Thyme. I bear letters from the General, Lord Pepper to the Lord Counsilor Sage. I also come with a gift to you, my lord prince, from your lady mother, Queen Anise." He motioned to the pack that one of the border guards still held and he brought it to him. He rummaged through it until he found a large wrapped package. Taking it from his things, he peeled off most of the protective paper and set the gift down at the prince's feet. An attendant quickly picked it up and brought it to the prince.  
  
Herb was surprised, to say the least. His mother...Anise. Her name was Anise. He had forgotten that. He barely remembered the woman at all, and now she had sent him a gift. A gift from his mother..he stilled his hands and forced himself to open the parcel slowly. It wouldn't do to show such emotion in front of his subjects. As he opened the lid, a soft wave of scent came from the box.  
  
It was of lavender, light and delicate, and it brought back a memory. Of his mother, holding him in her arms. For the first time in many years, he saw the face of his mother. she was tall and slender, with soft pink hair held in pretty emerald clips. she'd had wide blue eyes, and she always smelled nice. his two year old mind couldn't remember more than that yet, but he knew that she'd always smelled nice.  
  
It had been the last time he'd ever seen her, and she'd held him tightly for a whole minute. She'd been crying. Crying at being apart from him, for what would be most of his childhood life. She hadn't wanted him to go- He shook his head hard to clear it of such thoughts and looked at his gift. He lifted it slowly from the box.  
  
It was a suit, a formal suit for his wedding. Deep, deep emerald green with gold cuffs and collar. The embroidery was hand stitched, gold vines with small ruby leaves down one sleeve and part of the chest. The pants were worked with the design as well, on the opposite side. It must have taken days, weeks even to make such a piece. Herb swallowed before looking back up at the messenger.  
  
"You have done well." He swallowed once more before speaking again. For the first time, Herb was hungry to hear about his mother. "You know my lady mother?"  
  
The messenger smiled at him, "I am her personal messenger, Your Highness, and am constantly at her side."  
  
He frowned at that. What was this man doing with the Queen? "And just who are you? You never gave me your name."  
  
He saw the young man hesitate, and began to get more annoyed. "Surely you have one. Most men do."  
  
"I'm not a-! Forgive me, Your highness, but I'm a little nervous to say it. I guess I have no choice now," he muttered under his breath. Taking a deep breath, he brought up his hands, (oddly small and graceful hands, Herb noted), and pulled back his hood.  
  
Revealing a soft jaw and baby pink lips, delicate cheekbones, and large eyes of deep purple. His lashes-her, Herb thought in a daze-her lashes were long, almost an inch and formed russet half moons on her cheeks, her eyebrows arched perfectly. Her hair was a dazzling shade of cherry red, and as she took the rest of her cape off, he saw that her clothing complimented her perfectly. She wore a plain red tunic that hugged her perfectly, and black traveling pants. Her boots were red, and he couldn't stop staring.  
  
"My name is Lady Cinnamon of the House of Spice."  
  
An older man, not quite so stunned by the appearance of a woman, stood shakily. "Lady Cinnamon?"  
  
She turned to meet the amber gaze of the man. he was dressed in the long robes of a noble, and two long pheasent feathers trailed down from his head piece. "Lord Councilor Sage?"  
  
He smiled warmly at her with a polite bow. "Welcome to the training grounds, my dear lady." She bowed deeply in respect, looked up smiling, then ran and jumped up in his arms. "Grandfather Sage! I've missed you."  
  
"And I you, dear one. How have you been?"  
  
"Oh, quite fine, grandfather, your wife sends her love and your daughters as well. Carmel and Angelica miss you so much, they can't wait for when you can come back home."  
  
"I hope to return to the capitol within the year.  
  
"Wonderful! They'll be so happy-"  
  
"Lord Sage?" Both of them froze at the prince's voice. "You know this- girl?"  
  
"Yes, your highness. She's the daughter of Lord Celery and Lady Nutmeg. Both of them were accomplished matchmakers, and helped your father arrange your marriage. But due to our kingdom's nature of men and women not seeing each other"-  
  
"They thought it best if I helped prepare you for being dealing with women," Cinnamon finished. she smiled, and about 99% of the room was temporarily robbed of speech. "I've been sent by your mother and father to help train you for your courtship of the Lady Vanilla. Your future wife."  
  
The prince went deathly still. "You mean to tell me, you had someone in mind to teach me about women," he almost hissed at the advisor, who cringed at what was coming next, "and yet you let me go off to Jusenkyo to learn about women? You chose not to tell me?"  
  
Sage nearly swallowed his own tongue in fright. "My lord p-prince, I was away at the time you left, I had had no idea of your intentions, or I would have informed you of such a development. I assumed you knew you father would send you a teacher."  
  
"How was I to know of such arrangements?" Herb's voice had gone from icy to hissing outright.  
  
"My lord?" Both of them turned to face the young girl before them. "does it really matter so much? I'm sorry for being so tardy, I was supposed to have arrived over a month ago. I was delayed by."she hesitated, "by a village of Amazons. They insisted I become one of them after they saw some of my fighting skills."  
  
He looked at her with surprise. "You are a fighter?"  
  
She looked at him in complete surprise at his tone. "Of course I am! You don't really expect your mother to send me off without teaching me a few of her best tricks? She taught me as well as most of the palace guard. Your mother is a very fierce warrior when she wishes to be."  
  
He tried to feign disinterest at the news. "She is?"  
  
Cinnamon couldn't hide the slight shock in her voice. "You really didn't know that?"  
  
Herb looked away as he answered quietly, "I know very little of my mother."  
  
Cinnamon could have smacked herself. she kept forgetting that he couldn't have had any knowledge of women at all, let alone his mother. "I apologize, my lord prince, i-"  
  
"Call me Master Herb, it simplifies things."  
  
"Y-yes. Master Herb."  
  
~*~*~*~*  
  
this is going to take awhile, but I intend to have fun while doing it! please review! 


	3. Goodnight

Hi again! Thanks to all who reviewed, hope you like this!  
  
Chap 3: Making arrangements  
  
Cinnamon was blushing, a very interesting thing for the prince. Even through all his travels in China and Japan, he'd never seen a woman blush before. She looked almost ashamed with her head bowed and he wondered why. "I truly didn't mean to upset-I mean, I didn't wish to speak of your mother until later." She looked back up to his eyes. "Would you like to hear more of her, Master Herb?"  
  
'So that was it,' he thought. She actually thought that she'd offended him, and it upset her. He filed that away for further analysis later. Herb considered the question of his mother, and made his decision. "At a later time." He looked her over once more, and once over the shock of seeing a woman, he noticed just how tired she seemed. Since she'd brought no horse and wore traveling clothes, it was safe to assume that she'd come in on foot. If she was to train him, (he almost smiled at the mental image that brought), then she would need to rest and at least bathe.  
  
He frowned. 'Hmmm.' This could be problem. So many of his men had never laid eyes on a woman before in their memory. Their natural curiosity would cause them to want to look at her, preferably without clothing. Though she had claimed herself a fighter, he sincerely doubted she could handle the entire Musk army breathing down her neck.  
  
Cinnamon resisted the urge to shift under the prince's intense red gaze. He was studying her like some scientists watch bugs. So she decided to look at something else. But there wasn't much else to look at. Except the men.  
  
Rows on rows of men.  
  
There had to be at least sixty in the hall and, she turned slightly to get a better look, more were trying to get in from outside. 'Oh, no!' this was exactly what she'd been afraid of. She was the only drop of estrogen in a sea of testosterone. The only woman most of these men had ever seen.  
  
Cinnamon was a warrior, trained by the best. But she knew that she wasn't up to fighting an entire army! She was in deep, deep trouble if they got rowdy.  
  
Herb noticed her slight lack of composure. It looked like she'd just realized how bad her predicament could be and was doing her best not to show that she was very close to panic. He frowned. He did not want her to be afraid while she was here. "Mint, Lime," he called. The two fighters shoved their way through the crowd and knelt before their prince. Lime was a young tiger warrior, maybe 18 yrs old, trained in the art of tiger mimicry, with cat eyes of green and stripes in his black and maroon hair to show it. He was huge and possessed incredible strength, shunning weapons in favor of his powerful fists. Mint was a wolf warrior of 12, and his speed was beyond amazing. He could use his daggers or sword to make his, ahem, point around other, older warriors. Herb chose them above all others because they were the only ones besides himself to have ever seen a woman before.  
  
Lime spoke, "Yes, Master Herb?"  
  
"You are to take Lady Cinnamon's bags to the room adjacent to mine. Make sure she is comfortable in her new quarters."  
  
Cinnamon looked up at that, and so did Lord Sage. They quickly exchanged looks. Did Prince Herb understand what that would have implied? Had they been training at the capitol, it would have implied to everyone that Cinnamon was his mistress. Both doubted he realized it, but Cinnamon knew she'd have to tell him later.  
  
"Lady Cinnamon, Mint and Lime will be your escorts for the time you're here. If you need anything, or protection from someone," he positively glared at all the men still trying to shove into the hall, "they will do as you ask."  
  
She smiled brightly at him, momentarily dazzling him. She was quite pretty when she smiled. "Thank you, Master Herb, for your generosity." She looked the two boys over. Unlike 98% of the people in the hall, they weren't drooling over her. They looked rather composed. "They seem very collected, and I think we shall do well together." She walked over to them and smiled slightly. "Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it."  
  
The smile proved to be too much and they both grinned up at her. "I-its our p-p-pleasure, Lady---Cinnamon," Lime managed to stutter out.  
  
"We'll do our best." It took some effort, but Cinnamon didn't laugh at just how badly Mint's voice had broke on the last word. They rose, picked up her bags, and began to shove their way through the crowd to make a path for her. Due to the crush of people, it took a good five minutes to reach the hallway. The moment the trio had departed, Herb turned back to his men.  
  
He spoke with deadly sincerity. "You will not touch her, on pain of death. No one is to go near the bathing areas of the palace if they even suspect that she is bathing. Only the laundry servants may touch her clothes, and only for a short time. Is that understood?"  
  
Many disappointed faces gave their acknowledgement of his orders.  
  
He thought of one last thing. "You are to help her. She will not understand some of the laws of the training ground, so you must help her when you can. But do not touch her." The men nodded once again, and Master Herb walked from the dais to retire to his quarters.  
  
He just knew that this was going to be a very long night.  
  
***  
  
boy I hope I'm keeping him in character. Please review! 


	4. layout of the pad

Sorry for the delay, I've had finals all week!  
  
Here's the next installment of my fic to honor the dragon prince.  
  
Chap 4: layout of the pad  
  
Cinnamon hummed a quiet happy tune to herself. This was going much better than she had expected. She thought that she would have to ask for escorts and train them herself, but Prince Herb had surprised her and thought of it first. Not many of her students had ever thought for her safety on the first day before. Usually it was only after beating the crap out of two or three too curious men did any of the others realize how much danger she could be in.  
  
She studied the hall as she walked along with the two boys, trying to memorize her way. The floors were red marble, with white alabaster columns. Thick rugs lined the floor, and old tapestries lined the walls. Torches and candles in silver holders were evenly spaced along the hall, keeping it bright. The prince's quarters were the most lavish in the entire complex, but even here it was simple and not cluttered at all. She rather liked his style.  
  
The palace, while not very tall, three stories, was vast, with multiple enclosed courtyards for small classes and weapons training. It was mostly for the prince, the training masters, and the grounds staff.  
  
At her request for an overview, the retainers had taken her up to the third floor where one could see the entire place from its balconies. The grounds themselves were vast and spacious, three valleys enclosed by steep mountains. The path Cinnamon had walked was the only way in, easily defendable. The dormitories were little more than a hundred feet from the palace, and the infirmary was farther down the way, closest to the small river that flowed through the valleys. Its source was high up, mountain ice runoff, and some of the younger fighters had caught hypothermia even in the summertime for not respecting the water's temperature.  
  
Cinnamon drank in the view. It was a truly beautiful place, and seemed so peaceful as the sun set. Lime and Mint just smiled at the look on her face. They were watching her every move, still very not used to being in the company of a woman. She noticed their stares and spoke. "I'm sorry if I'm going to take time away from your training, Lime, Mint."  
  
"Oh, no, Lady Cinnamon, we don't mind at all!" Mint said. He opened the door for Lime to carry in the bags to her room. The young boy eagerly spoke again. "What sort of training will you and Master Herb be doing?"  
  
"Can we help with it?" Lime asked as he placed her few bags on the spacious bed.  
  
Cinnamon quickly answered, "Oh, no, this sort of thing he has to do on his own. As for what kind of things I'll be teaching him, well, its all about courtship." Seeing their confused looks, she explained. "Basically, what I'm trying to do it help smooth his way with his bride by teaching him what women are like and how to"-she tried for a better word and couldn't find one-"well, interact with us. Women are very different from men."  
  
"Yes," Mint said. "Women are. Your bodies are different. You're smaller and you're round in weird places. Is it true you have chickens on your chests?" Lime lightly shoved the boy in the arm and almost sent him out the window. "Don't be rude, you mutt. They're not weird, and its not chickens, its breasts."  
  
Cinnamon couldn't help raising an eyebrow. Good lord, they certainly were a strong bunch, these Musk warriors.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Herb walked silently down the hall, tuning out the sounds from the great hall below. Even on the third floor, he could still hear, "A woman! A real live woman, here in the palace! She'd come for Master Herb!" This is going to get so very annoying, he thought to himself. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that page that normally opened the door for him, a young boy of the rabbit clan of martial arts, was almost glued to the other door. He didn't even notice his prince coming to stand beside him.  
  
Herb mentally growled. It was just a woman, for the love of the gods. He readied himself to speak before he heard the crash of someone small hitting the floor. The prince instantly became concerned. While he trusted Lime and Mint not to harm her, he wouldn't put it past some of his other men to lay an ambush on hearing about a woman in the palace. Herb almost leapt in to see if Lady Cinnamon was alright when he heard the voices. 'What on earth are they doing in there?' He leaned over to listen more.  
  
%~%~%~%~%~%  
  
Lime growled while the wolf boy stood back up. "Sorry for his mouth, Lady Cinnamon."  
  
She giggled. "You know, you don't have to keep calling me 'Lady'.  
  
The tiger man cocked his head in confusion. "What else can we call you?"  
  
Mint was also puzzled. "Are there other names for women?"  
  
Cinnamon remembered that since they'd never had to talk with women, they didn't know any polite terms for them. "Sure there are, Mint." She sat on the bed to think about how to phrase it and decided to work her way down from the top. "As there are kings, there are queens, their wives. Emperor, empress, prince, princess."  
  
"So when Master Herb marries, his wife will be a princess?"  
  
"Exactly! Duke, duchess, baron, baroness, lord, lady, master, mistress, mister, miss. Since lord and master are titles, mister is just for someone you've just met, and that goes for miss too."  
  
"Which one should we call you?"  
  
The girl paused. "Well, I'm fine with you just calling me Cinnamon, but technically, we haven't known each other long enough for that to be appropriate. I suppose you could just call me Miss Cinnamon. Or just Miss, if you like."  
  
Mint and Lime smiled. "Sure thing, Miss Cinnamon."  
  
~*~*~*~*~**~*~*  
  
Herb rolled his eyes, something he would never do in public. (As the rabbit boy was still listening to the conversation, he didn't notice and wouldn't have said anything anyway.) That girl would have those two eating out of the palm of her hand in no time. Through the crack in the door he caught a look at her face. The dark smudges under her eyes were getting worse. Couldn't those two see that she was tired? He cleared his throat outside the door.  
  
Sun-he, the page, jumped five feet in the air, whirling to see his prince looking at him with something akin to amusement. The boy almost ran back to his post beside his prince's door, blushing bright red in embarrassment...  
  
Cinnamon glanced briefly around but couldn't quite identify what that soft noise was. Mint and Lime, with their animal ancestry, could hear him just fine and immediately began to go for the hall.  
  
"We'll be going now Miss Cinnamon," Mint said.  
  
"We'll be right outside your door if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask!"  
  
The girl nodded. "Thank you for watching over me tonight. I'm so tired I probably wouldn't notice if a troop of elephants walked outside my window."  
  
"May you sleep well," Lime said, turning to leave.  
  
"Oh, wait, Mint? Lime?"  
  
They turned back to her.  
  
"Could you please come talk to me tomorrow? I'd like to know more about the prince." She looked down, blushing. "I mean, since we're going to be working together, I'd rather find out now if certain things annoy him more than others. Is that alright with you?"  
  
They both nodded, thinking the same thing. Better tell her about the changing thing.  
  
"Goodnight, Mint, Lime."  
  
"Goodnight, Miss." The boys went out to the hall and shut the door behind them.  
  
Only to be greeted by their master. He gave them a light glare. "Don't even think about telling her about my curse."  
  
"But Master Herb"-  
  
"Not a word, or I'll start practicing my finishing moves again."  
  
Lime and Mint shuddered hard. Those moves depicted on the murals were extremely painful looking, and those few that they'd been done to almost never could walk right again. Those who lived, that is. The boys nodded their agreement of their lord's wish and settled outside the lady's door.  
  
Sun-he opened the door for his master and helped him prepare for bed.  
  
** hope you all like it, please review! 


	5. Waking up

Hello everyone again! Inuficcrzy here, with more of HTTaL. Hope you all like this one, it's a slow build to the actual plot.  
  
Me no own nothing. Me poor. Sorry law-person.  
  
No kibble for you.  
  
Chap : Waking up  
  
Cinnamon groaned softly, trying to sink back into the bed she had slept on so well last night. The light that was just beginning to show behind the mountains meant that dawn would soon be coming. Blast her internal timer. She had a time sense that was so reliable, she'd been known to correct clocks, and now that same thing was making her wake up. She pushed back the soft silk sheets and looked up to the ceiling.  
  
The girl had to admit, this was a very---nice room. It had tones of deep green and umber for its wall paintings, making a forest effect that she found quite soothing. It was just the decorations and molding that she didn't like. It was lavish and very extravagant. The bed was huge, and she rather thought that she could sleep in a different position for six nights and not touch the same spot on it twice. It was also the most obvious guest room she'd ever been in.  
  
If anything that she'd seen was to go by, the extremely masculine tastes for decorating in the grounds were very simple, yet oddly graceful. By comparison, this room was almost gauche, like it was meant to impress someone. She rather hoped that if she was going to be here a while, the prince would let her stay in a place more to her style.  
  
She got out of bed and stretched. Best to get a start on the day, she thought. The girl rooted through her pack and found her joss sticks and incense holder. Taking an ember from the torch by the door, she lit three and waited till the light perfume floated up. She cleared an area of the room for space, focused her thoughts, and began her exercises.   
  
Herb woke instantly, as he always did. There never was any groggy period for him, no drifting in consciousness. He was either awake or asleep, that was it. He got out of his sheets and dressed in his work out gear quickly. The prince was splashing water on his face when he heard the groan. It was the girl; she was getting out of bed. Damn ears, he thought to himself.  
  
Everyone knew that he, along with all of the Musk men, had acute animal senses. But what most didn't know was that his were extraordinary, even by royal standards. The boy had once heard his father talking privately with an advisor. Nothing special, except that they were on the third floor of the fortress and he had been down by the river. He often hid this sensitivity to sound, knowing that it could be used to an enemy's advantage.  
  
Mostly it led to raging headaches, which accounted for why he normally didn't socialize much with his subjects. He simply couldn't handle the amount of noise for long, and it made him rather irritable that something so small could bother him so much. It was also why he avoided the morning training sessions like the plague. Something about the early morning hours made the valleys echo terribly.  
  
The girl was moving around a lot now, he heard. She was moving the night table over to the wall along with the bed. He glanced at the door connecting the rooms. He'd always wondered why those two rooms connected. A waft of air made his nose almost twitch. She was burning incense? His curiosity got the better of him. Carefully stepping over Sun-he, he opened the door.   
  
Sun-he snorted as he rolled to his side and deeper in to the futon, debating whether or not to get up. The young boy was extremely happy his master hadn't been mad at him last night for not manning his post. Master Herb had just told him to not lose his head over a girl and had continued on as if nothing had happened.  
  
The boy was extraordinarily grateful to have this post. It was steeped in tradition, and a very high honor. Those chosen to be a page for the prince were often brought into his confidence, and made up the closest thing the master had to friends. Lime had been the prince's first page, followed by Mint. Upon reaching the age of 12, a page could then become a manservant, part of Herb's personal guard. Herb himself would train them to become warriors worthy of their lands and holdings.  
  
In other words, for you to be chosen for a page, the prince had to actually like you a little. That wasn't common knowledge, but once you were with the prince, you understood that fact. Two other things though were mandatory for a page of Master Herb. They had to be of noble birth, that was a given. But they also could not, under any circumstances, snore.  
  
Sun-he, also known as Crisp, (Crispy, to those that annoyed him) was the seven yr. old son of the Lord Citronelle of the House of Rosemary. They were the rabbit clan, often sporting longer than average (even for the Musk) pointed ears and embarrassingly fluffy cottontails at the end of their spines. Crisp had short black hair, long ears, and a black tail that he often tried to hide in loose pants.  
  
The boy finally decided to get up, rubbing the sleep from sandy brown eyes. He had still roughly an hour before the morning gong rang. He'd go down to the kitchens and flitch some breakfast for himself and the prince before anyone else was up. He rose and put on his shirt before he turned.  
  
Crisp started, and stared out the door that led to the woman's room.  
  
Master Herb was staring too, along with Lime and Mint. They had heard the noise and had come to investigate, but they couldn't have thought of this.  
  
The girl was upside-down, standing on her hands. Her back was bent almost in half, as she was slowly bending her knees backwards, arching her legs so that the tips of her toes touched the floor next to her hands. It looked like a back flip in super slow motion.  
  
Crisp rather thought he was going to be sick. That sort of position could not be normal. The next positions looked even worse. She twisted her legs and flipped herself upright, but then collapsed like her bones were made of water into another pretzel-like position. The look on her face was of intense concentration, and even though she had clearly looked at them twice, they hadn't registered at all, she was so in focus.  
  
Herb was transfixed. What an odd, graceful kata. Such skill and precision. The girl had incredible muscle control. He'd only heard of this sort of thing from the older masters who'd traveled in their youth to India and other parts of China. They'd called it yoga, a series of movements that were supposed to increase flexibility. (Obviously it had worked, and--Herb almost winced. Gods, that had to be painful. He'd had no idea a human body could bend that way voluntarily. The amount of training required to reach such a level must have been terrible.)  
  
He thought back to other things the masters had said. It could help cure illness, (was she sick?), and was often used by priests to worship their gods. Hmm. She wasn't Buddhist or Shinto. So what religion was this?  
  
Mint and Lime were surprised when Prince Herb began to quietly shove them out the door. He motioned to Crisp, his curt gestures clearly saying, 'get out.' He followed them out of the room and at his signal, Mint closed the door.  
  
"Master Herb? What's the matter?" Lime asked.  
  
Sun-he looked very disturbed. "Master, what was she doing?"  
  
Herb looked at them. "I've heard the old masters speak of this type of kata. Its called yoga and some use it to worship their gods." He frowned. "With such great focus and concentration, what else could she have been doing? We were disturbing her ceremony."  
  
The younger boys nodded and blushed with embarrassment. It made sense.  
  
"So that's why she locked the door," Lime said softly.  
  
The prince raised a brow. "What?"  
  
"When we heard the noises inside, we wanted to be sure she was alright. So we just twisted the knob hard and walked in," Mint explained. He flushed. "I guess we'll have to get a better lock for the door."  
  
&&^^%%  
  
Sorry it took me so long to update, I've had finals. Hope you like this chap, please review! 


	6. conversations

I no own, you no sue.  
  
Hope you all like this one!  
  
Chap: conversations  
  
Cinnamon splashed her face with the cool water from the bowl by her door. She assumed that Lime or Mint had brought some for her use earlier that morning, and made a mental note to thank them when she saw them. She had changed her clothes and started slowly walking down the hall. The lady took her time to try and find certain markings to help her memorize her way.  
  
She found the top of the stairs again and listened from the corner of them to see if anyone was coming. The girl wasn't trying to sneak around, she was just hoping to avoid anyone so early in the morning. The way the men had acted last night suggested that she might want to let them get used to the idea of a woman being around before seeing her. Two voices let her know of her company. Lime and Mint were talking down at the base of the stairs. Mint was asking Lime, the older, and supposedly wiser of the two, "Do you think she'll be mad if she finds out?"  
  
"I don't know for sure, but I'd be madder than hell if someone bugged me during prayers," the tiger man replied.  
  
"So we shouldn't say anything?"  
  
"Nah."  
  
"I'll bet Master Herb won't say anything either." "Don't be too sure about that," lime said thoughtfully. "She impressed the hell out of him with that 'yo-da' stuff of hers. He's always's wanting to learn more martial arts, so I'll bet that he has her teach him some of those moves. If he was flexible like that, no one'd ever catch him."  
  
"So you think Prince Herb would like to learn yoga?" she said softly behind Lime. He jumped three feet in the air, along with Mint.  
  
"M-My lady! You startled me!"  
  
"Don't do that!"  
  
She smiled, "Sorry about that I interrupted your conversation. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but," she frowned, "do you really think he'd.."  
  
"Sure," Lime replied, trying to hide his trepidation. Did she know about them looking in on her? "He's always looking for new techniques to learn."  
  
Cinnamon smiled at the news. "I'm glad we'll have something in common. Since I've traveled all over the empire, I've seen dozens of schools of mimicry. I've tried to learn something from them all, but I'm always searching for new ones."  
  
Mint smiled. He was going to like this girl. That thought surprised him. He'd just thought of women as a thing, not like a group of people. Hmm. This would take some thinking. Clearing his thoughts, he spoke, "Would you like some breakfast, my lady?"  
  
"Yes! I'm absolutely starving."  
  
Mint nodded with a light snort, "With that workout before, I'll bet you- ow!"  
  
Lime elbowed him barely, "Shut up runt!"  
  
Cinnamon started before she realized their concern. "I think you said something about seeing my morning routine? Sorry, I heard that part too." Both boys flushed guiltily. "Oh, don't worry about it!" Violet eyes lit in amusement, "I don't mind that you saw. I didn't even notice you."  
  
"But you were at prayers-" Mint started when she looked surprised. "Oh, no, Mint, I'm not a Hindu practitioner. Actually, I'm Buddhist. Its not part of my worship, just for a good workout."  
  
"Oh," Lime said. "We thought you'd be mad."  
  
"Nah. But I am mad at my door! I tried to use the handle and it fell out in my hand!" The girl laughed to herself as the boys guiltily flushed. "I guess I just don't know my own strength. You guys said something about breakfast?"  
  
"Oh yeah! We'll take you down to the kitchens."  
  
##$$%%  
  
An hour later, Cinnamon had met the kitchen staff and had become friends with them all. And if they stared, she ignored it until they would get the courage to approach her. The lady would be polite to them all, Mint and Lime brushing off the more eager of the men and boys. They all marveled over her soft hand, despite her protests of calluses.  
  
Crisp was among them, and after grabbing some food for himself, went to report to Master Herb. As he left, Lady Cinnamon had just picked up a young hawk boy, new to the training grounds, who said she reminded him of his mother. The image brought back something to Crisp, faint but still there. Soft black hair framing a beautiful face...he couldn't tell what color her eyes were, or the shape of her nose, but he remembered that she was pretty. His own mom..he shook the thoughts off and went to go find Prince Herb. She sure did seem like a nice girl-  
  
"Sun-he? Crisp?"  
  
The boy turned. His friend Savory, (Ling-mu), a young dog boy with deep red hair and a green tunic waved him back. "C'mere, the woman wants to talk to you."  
  
Crisp stared, then came running. "Yes, my lady Cinnamon?"  
  
"Huh? Why'd you call her that?" Savory asked. Other men and boys looked curious too.  
  
"That's what you're supposed to call them, Savvy," he answered. "She's a lady like Master Celery's a lord. Same rank, just with breasts."  
  
"And they're not chickens," Mint called out. "My mistake!"  
  
Cinnamon laughed with a blush. "Please, don't talk about breasts in front of me," she stammered out. "Its impolite to talk about that in public, in front of a woman."  
  
"Oh! S-sorry, Lady Cinnamon," Mint flushed along with Crisp.  
  
"You didn't know, its no big deal. Better to do it here with me than with your own future bride," she quipped. Turning back to Sun-he, she asked, "please go tell your master that I would like to meet with him in the courtyard by the inner garden as soon as he can. I'll be waiting to start his first lesson." She waved goodbye to him as he left the room and the disappointed men asked if she really had to go.  
  
Crisp grinned. She was going to be fun, he could tell.  
  
**&&^^ please review! 


	7. The reason why is

So, so sorry its been so long, but life is beyond hectic!  
  
Chap: the reason why is......  
  
Herb walked down the hall at his own pace, watching his men train from the balconies. He would never say so, but he did truly love his home here in the training grounds. A sound from the second floor reached him and he called out, "Crisp! Slow down, or you will fall."  
  
"Yes, Master Herb!" was the reply. Despite being so far away, the prince heard it as if the boy was there. He shook his head. Crisp ran pell-mell everywhere. He needed to learn to pace himself, or he'd never build his stamina. Herb resolved to include more endurance training for the rabbit.  
  
The boy panted up the stairs a few minutes later. "(huff, huff) Master, the woman asks you to meet her in the inner courtyard. She says she wants to start your first lesson."  
  
Herb inwardly smiled. He loved a puzzle, and he had been extremely curious as to what these lessons would hold. "Very good. Mint and Lime are escorting her?"  
  
"Yes, Master." Crisp stopped a moment to catch his breath before racing to catch up with the older boy. "Master?"  
  
He looked back at the boy, giving silent permission to speak.  
  
"May I come watch?"  
  
"Only if it is allowed," Herb replied. He glanced back at the rabbit. "Why are you out of breath?"  
  
"I ran the whole way here from the kitchens, Master."  
  
"You need to pace your breathing more evenly."  
  
"Master?"  
  
"You'll keep your speed longer and not tire your body if you can control your breathing while doing such exercise," Herb explained.  
  
"Oh, (pant). I'll try, Master."  
  
"We'll include that in your next lesson."  
  
"Thank you, Master Herb," Crisp bowed.  
  
()(()(()())()())(((()()()(  
  
Cinnamon composed herself on the small bench to the side of the courtyard. 'Alright, this was no different than all the other times,' she told herself. 'Its just a higher ranking boy, that's all.'  
  
'Yeah, the prince of all the empire,' a voice in the back of her head spoke up. 'Screw this up, and every girl could suffer.'  
  
A sound made her turn. She rose in greeting, a great smile on her face. "Lord Sage! I'm so glad you could join us."  
  
"Thank you for inviting me. I must say, I haven't seen a marriage training in quite some time. Has anything changed?"  
  
"Not very much, my lord. Um, pardon my asking, but do you think there is a certain thing he'd like to learn first? I've tried asking everyone who knows him, but so few have ever seen marriage training they could barely begin to tell me where to start."  
  
"I would suggest dancing first. That may very well be his most difficult challenge."  
  
"Oh, man," she groaned. "I'm going to get snapped in half, aren't I?"  
  
A voice spoke up from the entryway. "Why would that happen?"  
  
Cinnamon whirled to face the prince, nervously bowing. "Good morning, Lor-- -I mean, Master Herb."  
  
He gave her bare nod in reply before asking again. "Why would you be snapped in half? What is dancing?"  
  
"Oh, dancing is—I suppose the best way to explain it is doing a graceful kata in time to music with a partner."  
  
"A partner?"  
  
"Yes, my lord. A female partner."  
  
"And why would this be difficult?"  
  
"Well, most males new to females tend to overestimate their partner's strength." She gave an embarrassed smile, "I've had nine fingers broken because of that."  
  
"I assure you, I can control my own power," he said coldly.  
  
"o-of course, my lord."  
  
"Master herb?" lord Sage spoke up. "You should speak to the lady with greater respect than that."  
  
Herb raised a brow in surprise. Sage never spoke to him like that. "What do you mean?"  
  
"This lady, while she is very soft-spoken, does know what she is talking about. Even your father, while he was being trained, harmed his trainer by overestimating her strength." He paused before continuing. "Besides, while she is training you, she is immune to any order you give her."  
  
Herb's eyes narrowed. "What?"  
  
Cinnamon flushed as Sage continued. "When men and women were first separated in the Musk empire, both sexes still knew enough of the other to not need a teacher to smooth the way between them. But after so long apart from them, men began to forget how to act with women. Thus a trainer was used"---  
  
"Really?!" Crisp called from beside the bench. Lime and Mint immediately covered the boy's mouth, trying to stay as unnoticed as possible. Cinnamon started in surprise but then smiled at the rabbit. Sage rolled his eyes at the boy, but continued on. "A trainer was used to prevent embarrassment. But when it came to training future kings, the trainers found a dilemma. Sometimes training involves situations that a man is uncomfortable with, and a prince would order his trainer to stop, leaving his training incomplete.  
  
"The lords began to notice this, and asked the new king to change this custom. The emperor realized his mistake, and thus made a decree. So long as the male is in training by a female, he is forbidden to order her to stop any part of her training, to harm her in any way, or to impede her movements in any way. This made sure that all training could be properly carried out.  
  
"Therefore, my lord prince, she is, for practical intents and purposes, higher in rank than you. But only for the endurance of your training. You must obey her, not the other way around."  
  
()())(())(())()(  
  
there you go! Please review!!!! 


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